Video: The funniest “celebrity” in D.C.

posted at 9:49 pm on December 3, 2010 by Allahpundit

Two clips from last night’s competition, to which Washington journalists and political apparatchiks flock annually for the purpose of kinda sorta amusing each other. Righty blogosphere fave Mary Katharine Ham was one of the judges and proved she’s a gamer by trying her own hand at stand-up, albeit briefly, to warm up the crowd. That’s the first clip, via the good folks at Eyeblast. The second clip is of the winner, Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett, who’s actually not half-bad for an amateur. The dig at Politico should be a crowd pleaser with HA readers, and his Arianna Huffington impersonation is so good that if you close your eyes and concentrate you just might think you’re watching an especially lively episode of “Morning Joe.” Look out for the Palin joke, though. Or rather, “joke.”

Lovett had a routine rather than a string of jokes, so I give him some respect for that. The Huffington bit went on too long, and the audience participation part was clunky, but it landed a few punches. I’ve seen better in small-town clubs on open mic nite, and from previous DC winners. But it was passable.

Anybody that has the guts to stand up and do that is good in my book. I can’t think of anything more terrifying than somebody walking up to me, tapping me on the shoulder and saying, “go stand in front of all those people and say something funny for ten minutes.”

Anybody that has the guts to stand up and do that is good in my book. I can’t think of anything more terrifying than somebody walking up to me, tapping me on the shoulder and saying, “go stand in front of all those people and say something funny for ten minutes.”

Zetterson on December 3, 2010 at 11:13 PM

Yeah it’s not only the jokes you say but the timing too. I thought he did pretty good on the delivery as well.

A middling impression of Lisa (she’s easy to do), but more interesting that he would dare to mock one of the the goddesses of American liberalism. I see hate-mail in his future.

Overall, American comedy is in a sad state, -so infused with political correctness. The only religions that can be mocked are Christianity and Mormonism. The only politicians that can be mocked are Republicans, etc. When such broad swathes of the culture are ruled off-limits, the material suffers. Comedians used to pride themselves on their daring and cutting-edginess and all that; no more.